Saturday, January 24, 2015

Christmas 2014: The One On Christmas Eve

WARNING: IMAGE HEAVYLoooooooong picture-ful post. Go get your drinks and popcorn while waiting for the images to load. You could even savour your main dish in front of your computer. Those viewing this on your smartphones and other hand held devices, I suggest you skip reading this post till you get home or you might risk jamming your device and cursing at my blog in public. I know my turtle friend did that once minus the cursing in public. =P

Christmas eve was spent with my department at one of our colleague's place. It has since become a tradition for our department to "crash" any colleague's new home with the reason of visiting new-born babies, wanting to gain home decor ideas and plain kaypoh-ness.

Lyn's house is so cozy and we had so much fun eating, playing charades, frisking with kids, exchanging gifts in a radical manner, taking lots of photos and gasp, even watching Frozen!

We love to explore the closets of our colleagues and be completely enthralled by the huge space. Lyn has a walk-in wardrobe and so here are all the funny folks going crazy over the space! Dear hubby, may I have a huge closet too?

What were the kids engrossed in?

The kids were engrossed in Lyn's beautiful piano tunes coming from that pristine white "mantelpiece" or "table" look-alike. For my Facebook friends, you could view the videos here and here.

Boss hates to take photos so it is rare and cute to see him smiling like this.

Lol... forced by 2 ladies to smile for the camera.

When all had arrived, we took a wefie. It was almost a FULL department shot. It had been a long time since we had a photo of a full department attendance.

Time for charades!

The "glassroom" is the favourite place of the house for all the mummies and kids who were unable to participate in the games. Look at all my colleagues-friends, they are all so beautiful with such adorable kids!

Our dear hot mama of 3. I wasn't looking at the camera coz it was taken during charades and we were supposed to be guessing the word.

And yes, a wefie w/o a selfie stick makes forearms big.

We ended the party officially with the gift exchange. I got inspiration of a new way to do gift exchange from here. It was the first time trying out this Christmas story game and I was so heartened that some colleagues told me they loved it! It might get messy with small kids around so if you're interested to try it out, do modify accordingly to suit your guests. I slowed down and shortened the story accordingly for the mix circle of adults and small kids.

Time to open the gifts!

Hehehe... this was the gift I prepared. I actually bought vouchers but didn't want it to look to obviously like vouchers so I wrapped it with a pack of my favourite snack Peppero. Should have seen the recipient's face when she unwrapped the present. Hohoho... And guessed what, for my gift I received the same vouchers from another colleague.

And then Lyn the wefie queen, suggested a departmental wefie with our gifts. I love this picture! Lyn looks funny here and in some wefies coz it is a challenge to balance the selfie stick, aim to get everyone in the frame, appear with big face due to being the one standing in front, sport weird facial expression counting 1, 2, 3 just so that that moment of memory is captured perfectly... I joined in so that she wouldn't be left out. Lol!

Just after some colleagues left, we remembered that there was wine and had a toast. Cheers to a great department!

They look just like sisters!

Baby Em is usually fine with strangers according to her mummy and also from all the photos I usually see of her on Facebook. She was cranky that day probably due to the large crowd and it was only after mummy and I acted stupid "flying" Em here and there, and throwing her up in the air that she finally snapped out of her cool grouchy phase and laughed.

"Quick quick, help me take a picture before she stops smiling!" This resulted in many shots of Baby Em and me.

Guess what was on TV? It was FROZEN! Lyn and Bryan were acting out how people should act if they got "Frozen" the movie for charades.

I wasn't kidding when I said we were watching Frozen. I love the movie but I wished the hype would slowly die down. Let it go! Let it go!

Little C is such a darling. She would just melt into anyone's lap and embrace.

When I photobombed, Little C cheekily lifted her foot to the screen and smiled.

Everyone wanted a piece of Little C coz she's just so friendly and I would think that the thought bubble on Little C should aptly state:
"Aunties ah, can you all just let me watch my Frozen???"

We asked Little C if she could look at the screen for a moment and she posed a sweet little smile. Such a darling!

Awww... so sweet. I love what a natural poser she is! Can I kidnap you home?

When we asked Little C if Colin is a "kor kor" or an "uncle", she said "ah pek". But but but, look at how sweet she was to him. She would grow up to be a heartbreaker!

This wasn't supposed to be a group shot. It was a photobomb by all of us. By now, Little C must be thinking, "Sigh... uncles and aunties, just let me watch my Frozen in peace." Even her mummy brought her little sis in to photobomb.

In my circle of friends, my official ear to ear 白痴 Chipmunks smile is called "the 白痴 smile". In our deparment, it is called "The Bryan Smile". Bryan does it best!

We all love to imitate "The Bryan Smile" as you can see.

It is always great to work with Lyn whether for work or for play! What a great department Christmas party it was coz of our lovely host with a lovely home and the lovely OEDian spirit and warmth, all of which liven up the Christmas spirit on Christmas eve.

All photos in this post were taken by two different iPhone 6 with brightening (coz of backlight in the house) and some filtering.

Ah Jo, for sure your department is one of the best Ive seen sonfar! You all look so lovely, friendly and close, the photos exactly spread all the fun you have had, congrats to you and Lyn for the organization! You look so sweet with baby Em amd you are right, Little C is such a cute pie! Lol, have warched Frozen too on Xmas! Happy weekend Jo! xo

Dear Jo, It looks like you had a very good time with friends and family for the celebration of Jesus Christ's birthday (Christmas)Do search out a church that teaches and preaches from the BIBLE and will help you discover who Jesus truely is. I noticed your comment on another post and came to visit you. Here is my site. http://hazel-moon-blog.blogspot.com/

I am at home on my computer and I normally pop up a couple of blogs at the same time and read one after the other... not knowing your disclaimer, doing this gave it time to load all your pictures and I was able to enjoy reading your whole post without any issues... I loved it, it is awesome that you were all able to get together and spend a fun evening with each other, it has been so long since I played Charades and I remember having so much fun when I did... you gave me something to think about, I will have to get some friends together and have a fun night very soon.

Isn't it nice to get a give that you gave, I only give gifts I love, so if it is returned I am thrilled too :)

Hey Launna, glad that opening a few blogs at a time is your habit. I do that too with my laptop. I've got so may tabs opened all at once whenever I reply blog comments or visit blogs coz I like all the contents to load and give a good glance through before I actually read them. I don't like playing charades before this party. Lyn modified it such that all who were playing were the very ones giving the words of set categories before we threw the paper slips into a bag. That was really fun! I hope you manage to organize some sort of friends get-together and games night soon!

Certainly were not kidding about the post full of pictures. This may be a record even for you :) I have not played charades in so long, looks like fun. Our office party was not near as cool as that, very jealous. You had some many wonderful holiday celebrations. As for Frozen, I saw it and it left me (wait for it) cold. I do not get the hype at all. Sure that snowman fellow is amusing but the rest...ho hum. I am certainly not the target audience however. Usually Disney films are great for me. And now I must re-attach my retinas that I wore out so badly with all your pretty pictures ;)P I will email back soon, thank you for sending them.

There were a few record-breaking from a few years ago when I updated ALL Christmas celebrations or one whole month's worth of celebrations in one whole post. Lol... That was too much and have since adopted this approach of separating my posts into more digestible pieces. I'm one of those who caught Frozen in the cinema when it was about to end its runs. There were so much hype about it already. Even grown man with kids swoon about the movie. It raised my expectations a lot. If there wasn't so much hype, I think I would have loved the show more. It is unique in a way whereby true love isn't romantic love but sisterly and that's the first for Disney. I'm good at predicting plots sometimes and so I've already guessed that the "act of true love" would come from Elsa instead of from any man. You know which Disney cartoon brought tears to my eyes? Lion King! Take your time with the email. =)

Hahha! What a fun and family filled post! That's awesome your family got together like that and had so much fun! That only happens in my family during chinese new year time! I love that buffet spread your family had! I would love to dig into the kuehs!

Lol... What made you say it is my family, Sharlynn? Hohoho... They are my department colleagues and friends but yes, we are a whole departmental family. =) PS: My family gathers like this only during CNY too.

Oh no! I'm sorry! I don't know how I misread that! -_- I had a rocky night of sleep, woken up twice by my dog, once by my cat and woke up really late! No excuses though! Well I'm glad to hear you feel that way about your work mates, that's great!! Can't wait for CNY actually, im honestly looking forward to food mostly! :P

Hi Jo and family. Wow looking so much fun:) love everyone smile. Always super awesome when family and friend are get together. It's a bless. Thanks for sharing all happiness going on over there:). I hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Thanks so much for dropping and your lovely time Jo. Tanya http://attraction2fashion.com

Happy Sunday Jo!! I never liked Christmas but now that I see how much fun you guys are having I changed my mind. What a cool and fun department you guys are. Haha the boss doesn't smile a lot. I guess the boss has to stay serious. I want to kidnap little C too. She super cute. Well I have read the post but I have no idea how the gift exchange works haha. It's too complicated for me. I'm probably the only one who hasn't watched Frozen yet. I have to buy the blu ray. Hope you had a lovely week sweetheart. I'm going to cook dinner now. Your posts always make me hungry :D

Hey Mira. The concept of the gift exchange is for people to all stand/sit in a circle and pass their gifts to their left or right or across as the organizer reads the story containing these words. It is really quite fun. Ah, after all the hype about Frozen, one would have high expectations and expected a lot more. So I hope you won't be disappointed! Wanna see what you cook next! xo

Your family and friends really know how to have fun for the holidays Jo! All the food looks amazing but what's really wonderful is seeing all the smiling faces of all ages in these photos. I liked Frozen as well but like you, I totally wish all the hype for it would die down. How do you share all these photos with your family and friends? Is it here on your blog or do you also post them elsewhere?

Hope you enjoyed a really nice weekend Jo. Have an amazing week ahead!

I'm all about easy products and that Laneige mask is so easy to use. If you do try it, let me know what you think. Cleansing conditioner actually does clean your hair and the best part is that it doesn't strip it. I kind of don't want to use shampoo anymore since I switched it up :)

That's a cute question, Rowena. =) I would usually post them on my blog first and then Facebook. I would simply paste the "captions" from my blog onto those photos on FB. By writing on the blog first, it makes posting on FB and tagging people a quick and simple task. Really very intrigued by cleansing conditioner after your post but I can't find it in Singapore.

Jo, I'm so sorry I've been so absent for soooo long!!! I've been super busy at work, school and just being lazy I guess haha that is what winter and extreme cold temperatures do to me! anyways, I loved this post! you and your friend did such a great job organizing this amazing Christmas party! your friends' house is so lovely and big! I have a small walk- in closet but I wouldn't be able to fit that many people in it haha baby J is super gorgeous! and all the mommys in the glass room looked so cute! Thank you so much for sharing such a cute party! you are adorable Jo :)XOXO

Oh Milu, how I miss you so. Well those are really great "excuses" that I would use too. Hehehe... Actually my friend's house is the usual HDB-flats that is ubiquitous in Singapore but the interior designing makes everything so spacious and big.

Wow! Such a great time :) bABY jAY AND lITTLE c IS SO DARN CUTE! :) i LOVE charades as well, it's one of the activity we always do when I was still working in a call center. Gee! such awesome Christmas Party. I need Christmas party like that, I bet you did a great job in organizing your party. I really love hello kitty and I'm thinking of making it as a theme on my baby doll's first birthday. I'm searching for DIY hello kitty ideas so I can include it on preparing her big day. Maybe you have some ideas on what to prepare in throwing a hello kitty party? :)xx\Ricawww.switbbydoll.com

Hey Rica, a hello kitty party sounds super cute! I hope I'm not too late in replying this. But when I think of baby birthdays, I think of a cupcake tier as that's gaining popularity now. Hello Kitty cupcakes and other sweet treats would always look pretty in faded tones or pastel rather then the original bold colours. Anything with the iconic HK ribbon would be great props too. Plastic glasses, hairbands for girls, bow ties for boys. I love to gain inspiration from Pinterest too. You might like these:https://www.pinterest.com/marisab/hello-kitty-party-ideas/https://www.pinterest.com/krispy06708/hello-kitty-birthday-party-inspiration/

Oh my! yes they are so cute. I'm having a hard time thinking on what to do with the little boys who'll attend the party since hello kitty is soo pink and girly. Thank you for this idea Jo! :)) Now you just gave me an idea on how to plan this purrfect kitty birthday for my baby doll :)

This looks like such a wonderful time, so lovely to be around great friends and family :))) I love the Hello Kitty glasses, I am definitely getting some of those, haha :))) Wonderful. I hope you have a gorgeous new week :) xx

Haha, Jo, I had so much fun with your photos! You have lovely colleagues! I laughed out loud about the closet. I am dreaming of a big one too! Hope one day to have it at home! A voucher for a Christmas gift sounds perfect, although you received the same. Fun coincidence! Little Baby Em is adorable! It's so nice to see so many positive people with huge smiles!

Girlllll, your Christmas celebration looks like a MAJOR BLAST! LOL! It's been a few post of your Christmas celebration and I love all of it. You're so lucky to be surrounded by so many wonderful, loving people in your life. It shows what a wonderful person you are too. Hugs! Hope you had a great weekend. xx

Lyn's office/"glassroom" is seriously GORGEOUS. Been looking to put in shelves in my home office as well, but $$ and not sure how they would fit into the room. NEVER GONNA LET FROZEN GO...AND APPARENTLY NEITHER IS DISNEY BECAUSE 'FROZEN 2' IS ON ITS WAY ;)

Might have to steal that voucher idea for my next gift exchange--I'll probably hide them in a pair of socks and it'll hopefully be hilarious.

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